Group of non-vertebrate marine filter feeders comprising sea squirts
Ascidiacea
Temporal range: Cambrian "Stage 3" – today (but see text)[1]
PreꞒ
Ꞓ
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
Ciona intestinalis, commonly known as the vase tunicate or as a sea squirt
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Subphylum:
Tunicata
Class:
Ascidiacea Blainville, 1824
Groups included
Aplousobranchia Lahille, 1887
Phlebobranchia Lahille, 1887
Stolidobranchia Lahille, 1886
†Cheungkongella? Shu et al., 2001
†Ausiidae?
†Ausia?
†Burykhia?
Cladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa
Thaliacea Nielsen, 1995
Appendicularia? Lahille, 1890
Ascidiacea, commonly known as the ascidians or sea squirts, is a paraphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders.[2] Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer "tunic" made of a polysaccharide.
Ascidians are found all over the world, usually in shallow water with salinities over 2.5%. While members of the Thaliacea (salps, doliolids and pyrosomes) and Appendicularia (larvaceans) swim freely like plankton, sea squirts are sessile animals after their larval phase: they then remain firmly attached to their substratum, such as rocks and shells.[citation needed]
There are 2,300 species of ascidians and three main types: solitary ascidians, social ascidians that form clumped communities by attaching at their bases, and compound ascidians that consist of many small individuals (each individual is called a zooid) forming large colonies.[3]
Sea squirts feed by taking in water through a tube, the oral siphon. The water enters the mouth and pharynx, flows through mucus-covered gill slits (also called pharyngeal stigmata) into a water chamber called the atrium, then exits through the atrial siphon. [citation needed]
Some authors now include the thaliaceans in Ascidiacea, making it monophyletic.[4]
^Fedonkin, M. A.; Vickers-Rich, P.; Swalla, B. J.; Trusler, P.; Hall, M. (2012). "A new metazoan from the Vendian of the White Sea, Russia, with possible affinities to the ascidians". Paleontological Journal. 46: 1–11. doi:10.1134/S0031030112010042. S2CID 128415270.
^Gittenberger, A.; Shenkar, N.; Sanamyan, K. (2015). "Ascidiacea". In: Shenkar, N.; Gittenberger, A.; Lambert, G.; Rius, M.; Moreira Da Rocha, R.; Swalla, B. J.; Turon, X. (2017). Ascidiacea World Database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2017-09-15.
^Alié, Alexandre; Hiebert, Laurel S.; Scelzo, Marta; Tiozzo, Stefano (2021). "The eventful history of nonembryonic development in tunicates". Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 336 (3): 250–266. doi:10.1002/jez.b.22940. ISSN 1552-5015. PMID 32190983. S2CID 213181394.
^Brusca, Richard C.; Giribet, Gonzalo; Moore, Wendy (2023). Invertebrates (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 911–932.
Ascidiacea, commonly known as the ascidians or sea squirts, is a paraphyletic class in the subphylum Tunicata of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders...
evidence suggests the Ascidiacea are an artificial group of paraphyletic status. A close reationship between Thaliacea and Ascidiacea, with the former possibly...
2013. Andrew R. Davis (1995). "Over-exp loitation of Pyura chilensis (Ascidiacea) in southern Chile: the urgent need to establish marine reserves" (PDF)...
Phlebobranchia is an order of sea squirts in the class Ascidiacea, first described by Fernando Lahille in 1886. The group includes both colonial and solitary...
Aplousobranchia is an order of sea squirts in the class Ascidiacea, first described by Fernando Lahille in 1886. They are colonial animals, and are distinguished...
Olfactores Subphylum Tunicata (Urochordata) – (tunicates; 3,000 species) Class Ascidiacea (sea squirts) Class Thaliacea (salps, doliolids and pyrosomes) Class Appendicularia...
Eudistoma fragum is a species of sea squirt in the class Ascidiacea. The scientific name of the species was first validly published in 1988 by Françoise...
Stolidobranchia is an order of tunicates in the class Ascidiacea. The group includes both colonial and solitary animals. They are distinguished from other...
Lambert, G.; Rius, M.; Moreira Da Rocha, R.; Swalla, B.J.; Turon, X. (2015) Ascidiacea World Database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on...
Strange-Looking New Species of Colonial Ascidians in the Genus Clavelina (Tunicata: Ascidiacea)". Species Diversity: 53–64. doi:10.12782/specdiv.29.53. Retrieved 19...
vertebrates. Balanoglossus is a deuterostome, and resembles the sea squirts (Ascidiacea) in that it possesses branchial openings, or "gill slits". It has a notochord...
This article contains a list of all of the classes and orders that are located in the Phylum Chordata. Order Amphioxiformes Genus Pikaia † Order Enterogona...
Moreira Da Rocha R, Swalla BJ, Turon X (eds.). "Ascidia Linnaeus, 1767". Ascidiacea World Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved February 25...
Clavelina ("little bottle") is genus of sea squirts (the Ascidiacea), containing the following species: Clavelina amplexa Kott, 2002 Clavelina arafurensis...
members of the family were included in the family Molgulidae in the class Ascidiacea. They superficially resemble sea squirts but prey on invertebrates such...
Moreira Da Rocha; Billie J. Swalla (eds.). "Megalodicopia Oka, 1918". World Ascidiacea Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved June 28, 2011. O'Brien...
Ascidiidae ("same-sac family") is a family of tunicates in the class Ascidiacea. Some species contain elevated amounts of vanadium. There are 4 genera:...
M, Moreira Da Rocha R, Swalla BJ, Turon X (eds.). "Polycarpa aurata". Ascidiacea World Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved May 24, 2012...
Lambert, G.; Rius, M.; Moreira Da Rocha, R.; Swalla, B.J.; Turon, X. (2015) Ascidiacea World Database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on...
Leptoclinides cucurbitus is an Ascidiacea from the family Didemnidae. The scientific name of the species was first published and made valid by Kott in...
the hemovanadin proteins found in blood cells (or coelomic cells) of Ascidiacea (sea squirts). Vanadium is an average-hard, ductile, steel-blue metal...
most often recovered as the sister group of the other tunicate groups (Ascidiacea and Thaliacea). Already in the late 19th to early 20th century, it was...
Swalla BJ, Turon X (eds.). "Ecteinascidia turbinata Herdman, 1880". Ascidiacea World Database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved February 2...
Global Information
